Estimate Server Load

[mannychohan]

Is there a tool to monitor sustained loads on a System? What's a proper way of estimating how many Host Servers do you need and how many VMs can it sustain?

Thanks

Manny

[vmroyale]

Hello.

Is there a tool to monitor sustained loads on a System?

Which system(s) specifically - VMware hosts or current physical servers running Windows, Linux, etc?

>What's a proper way of estimating how many Host Servers do you need and how many VMs can it sustain?

Where are you at in the process? Are you looking at virtualizing your servers, or have you already started the process?

[mannychohan]

Hi,

We have Windows 2003 Servers in the Network. AD, SQL, Exchange, File and Print Servers. Well, we were just thinking about Virtualizing our DataCenter. I just wanted to get started and estimate how many Hosts we would need and how the VMs will be spread out.

Thanks

Manny

[Troy_Clavell]

Depending on the size of your organization, you may want to engage VMware and VMware Capacity Planner'

It's almost a guessing game for all of us because we don't know your environment.

[vmroyale]

I agree with Troy - The Capacity Planner service is very nice, and you will gain a lot of insight into your environment in the process.

You can also check out things like the VMware TCO/ROI Calculator. Some server vendors offer their own versions of these calculators as well. Another thing to do would be to start baselining your systems, but if you plan to use services like the Capacity Planner, then you might just want to wait.

Good Luck!

[mannychohan]

I agree with you all. I just wanted to get an insight into the process as it will take months for the project to start officially. I wanted to prep myself for the project.

Thanks

Manny

[beyondvm]

The best way to know for sure is to have vmware or a partner come and analyze your environment with capacity planner. That tool can be exported into a spreadsheet that will let you plug in what type of hosts (Number of CPU / Amount of RAM) and it will calculate how many hosts you need.

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